A corpq



Jan. 2, 1923.

e. JJELLISDN.

Ann HEATER. FILED Fee. 2, I92.

3 snssvs-snsew 3 Patented .lanQZ, I923. v v a UNITED STATES; ar

1,440, 61 ENT QIFFI'CTE; J

EARL .i. .ELLIsomioF MAYWooD, ILLINOIS, nssienoit, BY' MESNE nssicnivrnivrg To' mnnxxm CENTURY HEATINGGc VENTILATING oraxnon, OHIO, Aconio:

RATION or OHIO.

hm HEATER.

"Application; filed February 2, "19211 s iiai No-(441,746

T 0 all whom it concern: v

:B it known that I, EARL J. ELLISON; a

citizen of the United States, and resident of Maywood, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain "new and useful Improvement in Air Heaters,

of which the following is a full, clear, con-- cise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawinga'forming a art of this specification.

v y invention relates to air heaters for heating and ventilating high temperature drying and dehydrating purposes. My iirvention relates more particularly to devices for controlling the flow of air past the heat radiating surfaces ofsuch furnaces and to I means ofcontrolliiig such dethe automatic vices. I

=()ne objectof my invention is to provide meansior reversing the 'floW of air to, be

heated under forced feed and gravity feed I conditions." It is ,Well understood that an air heater operates more efficiently wheiijtlie C()l'(vl 2t11"l'l1St impinges upon the cooler portions of'the radiat ng suriaces because under these conditions a greater proportion of the heat maybe extracted from the radiating surfaces than where theair which impinges upon -the cooler radiating surfaces has been previously heated by contact with the radiat -ing surfaces oi. higher temperature. Air

furnaces are not ordinarily arranged for the impingen'ient of air upoiithe radiating surv faces in} this moreefficient order because this order ordinarily requires a flow or air which is-opositeto the natural gravity flow created a by the heatof-the air' within*heater.' In accordance with my invention, however,-

when the air-is caused to flow through the heater by gravityat such times as the pressure flow may be temporarily cut off, dampers are automatically changed so that the air to be heated-reversesits direction oi fiow' through the heater andfollows the less eiiicient directionof gravity flow.

I A fui'ther'object of my invention resides in the particular arrangement of parts which divides the usual warm air chamber lIIlJOilZWO compartments to facilitate the flow of air in alternate directions in a simple and effi-- cient manner.

A still further object of my invention resides in theautomatic means for controlling the damper positions to bring about the reversal of air flowingthrough the heater.

second rear wall 13 is interposedbetween Still further objects of my invention will appear from the i'ollowingdetailed descriptionand the appendedclaims'.

My invention is, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-- I -Figure 1 is a vertical'section through a battery of heaters of the horizontal airflow type, describedin-my (impending application, Serial No. 424,019 filed November 15,.

FigureQ is a 'plan pa'rtially in" section'of the heater of Figure 1 Figure 3 is a. vertical 1 section through :3

'hea'ter of the vertical air flow type illustrat ing the application of my'invention thereto; Throughout the drawings like characters have been used to designatesim'ilar parts in,

along the fire box section and along the ra i diator section in alternate directions. When heaters of thislcharacter. arear-iv ranged in a battery, the ash pits 8 are preferably connected into'a single chamber. .The various 'heate'rsniay be separatediby pa-r titions to facilitate ,iepairs on individual heaters while other heaters are in operation or they may be assembled' in continuous j chambers extending throughout the length l of thebattery of heaters. 3 i

In accordance with the embodiment of Figured; a rear wall 10 constitutesa primary separation between the heatersections and the so-cal1ed warm air. chamber" 11; a j

the wall l0 and the rear wall 14 of the warm I air chamber, dividingjthe'rear portion of the warm air chamber into two vertical compartments for the purpose to bemore fully hereinafter set forth} The top of the partition 13 is connected to, ahori zontal partition 16 which acts to direct the flow of air horizontally along the radiator sections 6. The burned and burning gases flow from I the rear of the fire into the inner pair Y of horizontal radiating sections 17 where they travel to the forward end of the furnace and are conducted through the cross-overs 18 to the outer radiator sections 19 in which they return to the smoke box 20 from. which they pass off through the flue 21. From this flow of gases, it will be seen that the furnace fire box 5 is subjected to the highs est temperature, whereas the radiating sections 17 and 19 receive the burned gases after a considerable portion of the heat has been absorbed by the metal of the heater.

Insorder to direct air under forced feed first upon the radiator sections, and later uponthewalls of the fire box, I provide a suitable fan 25 driven by motor 26 and direc'ting'fair' into an induction tube 27 for delivery'to each of the several heaters of the battery. When the dampers are in the position shown in solid lines in Figure 1, air passes through the branch conduit 28 intothe chamber 29 on the forward side of the'fpa'rtition 13. The air then passes the open damperf30 and follows the course of the solid arrows, "passinginto the warm air chamber through the opening 31 under the wall 10. From the lower part of the warm air chamber 11, the air passes up between the walls 13 and ltto theup'per spaces where it is carried to its final destination through conduits similar to 32. A damper 33 is arranged under the conditions named, to close the passage between the chamber 29 and the lower portion of the warm air chamber 11, this damper being connected by a rouse with the damper 30, which, in turn, is connected by means of a rod 35 with a damper 36 which, under the conditions named, closes an opening between the chamber 29 and theupper part of-the warm air chamber 11. This series of dampers all connected' togetherjis controlled through a link 38 and piston rod 39 by a piston arranged within "a cylinder 40 operated by compressed air through a conduit 41 and compressor 42 or other'means hereinafter described so that whenever the motor 26 is in operation sufficient air pressure will be maintained in the cylinder 40 to holdthe'dampers in the condition j ust described.

Whenever the fan 'motor ceases to operate and the air is cutoff from. the conduit Q,

the dampers automatically move to their alternate positions shown in dotted lines in Figure 1" .v This movement is preferably accomplished by overbalancing the train of dampers as by a weight 44 carried by one of the dampers. When the air pressure is relieved from conduit 41 and these dampers assume the positions indicated by dotted lines, the flow. of air over the radiating surfaces of the heater reverses its direction taking the path illustrated by the dotted arrows. Under'these conditions, the air passes fromv the induction conduit 28 into the chamelectric hotter portions of the heater first and therefore extractsthe heat from the radiating surfaces with somewhat slightly less efiiciency than under forced-feed operation. '75

In some installations compressed air is available withoutthe use of a separate compressor such as 42 and in this case an automatically operating three way valve, such as illustrated in dotted lines at 16, Figure 2, may be connected in the air line and op erated by the handle of theusual automatic circuit breaker electrically connected in the blower motor circuit. in accordance'with this illustration, when the electric circuit for the motor is interrupted either at the main switch or through some failure of the supply, the automatic circuit breakerarm 17 moves away from its retaining magnet 48 thus causing a partial rotation of the valve 46 which is arranged under these conditions to cut off the compressed air supply and open the atmospheric vent. When the air supply is .thus cut off, the dampers assume their alternate position, the air from behind the piston then escaping through the vent in the three way valve.

in Figure 3 the fiowof air into the warm air chamber is exactly the same as described in connection with Figures 1 and 2, the only difference being that the flow of air'over the radiating surfaces of this furnace is in. a vertical direction. The air under forced feeding conditions impinges first upon the radiator sections 50 and then upon the fire box sections51 and under gravity flow conditions reverses and impinges upon the fire box sections 51 and then upon the radiator sections 50. v

.Although I have shown and described my invention with respect to certain specific structures, it is to be understood that modi-h fications of these structures may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

. hat I claim is I V Y 1. Ina heater, the combination with a warm air chamber, of a partition dividing the warm air chamber into two compart merits, a means for directing the flow of an eduction passage, dampers for directing the flow of air fromthe induction passage to the eduction passage, either with or against the natural gravity flow of air over said radiating sections dependent upon whether or not the air is fed to the induction. passage under pressure.

3. In a heater, the combination with radiating sections, of a warm air chamber permanently connected with the lower portion of the chamber containing said radiating sections, a fresh air induction passage, means connecting said induction passage with the top of the chamber containing said radiating sections whereby air may be forced to flow over said radiating sections in the direction opposite to the natural gravity flow of air thereover, a means to close the path for air between the induction passage and the top of the chamber containing the radiating sections and to open a communication between the induction passage and the lower portion of the chamber containing the radiating sections, and further means to open a connection between the upper part of the chamber containing the radiating sections and said warm air chamber in order to permit air to flow from the induction passage into the warm air chamber by gravity.

4. In a heater, the combination with a radiating section chamber, of a fresh air induction pipe, a warm air chamber, means for directing air from the induction pipe to the Warm air chamber through either of two paths and three ce-operating dampers for controlling the passage through said paths, one of said dampers controlling the connection between the induction passage and the upper portion of said radiating section chamber, another of said dampers controlling the connection between the upper portion of said radiating section chamber and the warm air chamber and the third of said dampers controlling the connection between the induction passage and the lower portion of the radiating section chamber, said dampers being interconnected so that when the first-mentioned damper is opened, the second and third mentioned dampers are closed, and when thefirst-mentioned damper is closed, the second and third mentioned dampers are opened, whereby the flow of air through the radiating section chamber may be reversed.

5. In aheater, the combination with a radiating section chamber, of a fresh air induction pipe, a warm air chamber, means for directing air from the induct-ion pipe to the warm air chamber through either of two paths and three co-operating dampers for controlling the passage through said paths, one of said dampers controlling the connection between the induction passage and the upper portion of said radiating sec tion chamber, another of said dampers controlling the connection between the upper portion of said radiating section chamber and the warm air chamber and the third of said dampers controlling the connection between the induction passage and the lower portion of the radiating section chamber, said dampers being interconnected so that when the first-mentioned damper is opened, the second and third mentioned dampers are closed, and when the first-mentioned damper is closed, the second and third mentioned dampers are opened, whereby the flow of air through the radiating section chamber may be re versed, means for forcing air into the induction passage and automatic means for opening the first-named damper when the air forcing means is in operation and for closing the first-mentioned damper whenever the air forcing means is out of operation.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 26th day of January, 1921.

' EARL J. ELLISON. Witnesses:

EDNA V. GUsrArsoN, E. J. BOURGEOIS. 

